Issue 02Summer 2014

Inside this issue...

page 2Lifetime HomesNetwork Rail supports the Willowworks

page 3Empty homes back in use

page 4Celebration Day!Healthy cooking

page 5Groundwork helps local people to get growing

Creswell, Ashfield and Mansfield Newsletter

page 6Introduction to Stephanie Brown, Cleaner

Follow us on Twitter:@GwkCres

Find us on:www.facebook.com/groundworkcreswellashfieldmansfield

Keep up with news daily:

The project was supported by Newark and Sherwood District Council and local residents. The park has been designed to provide somewhere for families and wildlife to enjoy. The park designed by Groundwork and built by Crestra, provides natural play equipment for children and planting specifically designed to attract wildlife. Some of the planting has been specially chosen to attract pipistrelle bats and there are numerous bat boxes on poles around the site to encourage them to roost, hibernate and raise young.

A local artist created a bespoke carved wooden bench for the park themed around the bramley apple for which the local area is famous. The bench includes natural play features for children and is engraved with the wordsl ‘Mother baked a pie, Mary Ann planted a seed, Matthew tended the garden, and Henry tasted the fruit, and so, Bramley’s seedling was born’

Bramley Wildlife Garden proves a great success

The park also contains a small brook with a little bridge that provides diversity of habitat for local wildlife.

Phil Beard, Business Manager Parks & Amenities at Newark & Sherwood District Council said “This park is one of the best play spaces Newark and Sherwood District Council have done, we’re very pleased with it”

The project contains three pieces of play equipment in total the bespoke bench, and two natural play trim trails.

Network Rail supports the Willowworks

As part of Network Rail’s £280 million modernisation scheme for the GNGE line between Peterborough, Gainsborough and Doncaster, the Alliance of companies delivering the project are keen to leave a positive environmental legacy at locations along the route.

The Willow Works is the only surviving building of what was once one of the main cottage industries of the Beckingham area of Bassetlaw. It has a century of local significance as a place where people learned and maintained the tradition of willow working. The building has been restored by the local Community and the Groundwork Trust and it now offers offices, exhibition and training rooms and a unique setting for community events, meetings, educational programmes and private functions.

Last week engineers swapped their drills and hammers for shovels and gardening gloves to plant trees and shrubs to finish off the recently-opened Community Learning Garden. Overall, Network Rail helped to plant over 600 plants, shrubs, trees and hedgerows and installed a protective fence around the whole site to make it safer for local school children to use and enjoy the Willow Works gardens.

Network Rail GNGE Environment and Sustainability Manager, Paul Panini, said:

“It’s really important to Network Rail and the companies delivering the GNGE Project that we leave behind, not just a safe, modernised railway but a positive and sustainable landscaped legacy for the local communities we’ve impacted to enjoy once we have finished our work.”

Lifetime homes for local residents in Calow

“We’ve really enjoyed working with Network Rail to bring about this positive contribution to the future of the Willow Works as an important community asset in the Beckingham area”

Chris du Feu, Secretary of Willow Works Community Group

Two new bungalows are being built in Calow, Chesterfield as part of the Lifetime Homes Project. The bungalows are specially designed to provide flexible interiors to adapt to the different needs of its residents. The project is being run in partnership with North East Derbyshire County Council and the bungalows are due to be completed by the end of September. As part of the project North East Derbyshire County Council stipulated apprentice training should be part of the project, three apprentices have been on-site at all times.

They are designed as two/three bedrooms with the choice of a third bedroom or dining room. The design is to ensure the maximum energy efficiency. with the provision for solar PV and Solar Thermal.

Both properties are well underway and are now watertight with plot one having all first fixings completed, and plasterers are currently onsite. These properties are currently advertised on the open market for sale with an asking price of £195,000 by our estate agent Wilkins Vardy who report the properties have had over 300 hits on their website.

Empty homes back in useCrestra are turning derelict properties into homes for local people

The Empty Homes Project sees empty properties being given a new lease of life and rented out to local people in need of housing. The project is currently running in Derbyshire and Lincolnshire and has seen over fourteen properties brought back into use and rented out.

The project takes empty, derelict and run-down properties owned by private individuals, and renovates them to a decent homes standard. The properties are then rented out through the local authority as affordable housing. Getting unused properties back into use, benefits the community as these properties can also pose environmental problems and attract anti-social behaviour depressing the quality of the neighbourhood.

Andy Foster, project supervisor said ‘We are really making a massive difference to these properties and making them habitable again which benefits the local community’

Ulley Reservoir is one of Rotherham’s most picturesque country parks and a great place for water sports enthusiasts.

Crestra has been working with the Friends of Ulley Reservoir to install additional path and steps to their new picnic area. They have also carried out maintenance repairs and painting to the main building in Ulley Park.

This is only part of the work required but the friends of Ulley reservoir need to raise more funds. In future they are hoping to carry out further to the main building and repairs to the stone boundary walls around the park.

Crestra has also been working at Treeton cemetery to improve access by improving the paths and walkways throughout the cemetery.

The paths have been widened and the steps have been replaced with new ramps. The path has been set with edgings to prevent the grass being worn down at the sides. It is hoped that the improvements will enable easier access for wheelchair users and those with mobility problems.

Improvements at Ulley Reservoir Crestra creates better paths at Treeton Cemetery

Before

After

Volunteers helping to keep the High Peak in good repairGroundwork ranger Richard Fletcher is now working with a group of six regular volunteers in the High Peak to help maintain the public rights of way there. Due to the quality of their work in the High Peak they have also been asked to help maintain the Pennine Bridleway.

The work includes installation of field gates and wooden finger posts through to vegetation clearance. The work normally takes place in the parish of Chapel but volunteers have also worked in Castleton and Hope. The group meet up once a week with a Groundwork Ranger usually on a Wednesday with pick-up points at Buxton & Chapel-en-le-frith.

The group would like to take the opportunity to say a big Thank You to Steve Cresswell from Derbyshire County Council Countryside Service for bringing the stone to repair the access point to one of the wicker gates.

Anyone interested in getting involved can contact: richard.fletcher@groundwork.org.uk

Healthy cooking on a budget

Over the past year I have been working in partnership with Matlock Town Council and the Well Field Allotments Association to carry out a number of projects funded by the National Lottery through an Awards for All grant.

Bank Holiday Monday May 5th was the day chosen by the partners to celebrate the successful completion of the projects.

An early start was made to collect and pack all the materials and equipment and pick up the volunteers. We arrived at site at 10am to meet the dry-stone walling experts and help them prepare the length of wall to be rebuilt. Each of the individuals running the attractions were met on arrival, shown to their locations and assisted with their preparations. We

were all ready to go by 12 noon, as people began to arrive.

Patrick making the bug homes and Pip the face painter hardly had a minutes break for the entire four hours. Patrick helped the public to make over 60 bug homes, most of which were taken away for their gardens. Chris and Marion helping people make artistic decorations to hang on the nearby trees, had a steady stream of clients all afternoon. Sophie in the story tent was very popular for the imaginative stories as well as for the comfortable cushions and shady interior. Diane’s potions made from herbs and flowers were very popular with the children who loved using the mortar and pestle to grind up the ingredients.

The maypole dancing was a nice

addition and was loved by the crowd and the accordion player created a really nice atmosphere for the celebrations. Many people could not believe that the refreshments were free and were initially not keen to eat or drink anything, but by the end of the day most of the refreshments had gone. The dry stone wallers Sally and Ray were very informative about their work and a few people had a go at walling; a considerable length of wall was completed during the afternoon.

Looking back, it was a very enjoyable, informative and fun occasion attended by 61 adults and 47 children. We received many favourable comments and a lot of people asked if it was going to become an annual event.

by Gary Wain, Community Wildspace Officer

Celebration Day at Well Fields Allotments

Groundwork is delivering a series of Healthy Cooking on a Budget courses in the Erewash borough of Derbyshire. This practical cooking course consists 6 sessions held over 6 weeks which is ideal for people with low confidence with cooking, or may need more tips to cook in a healthier way and want to learn to shop so that their food budget goes further.

Participants are all adults and have been referred on to the courses via Derbyshire Community Health Services WaistWise staff or Health Trainer staff or through Erewash Borough Council Healthy Lifestyle Hub staff. Many of those taking part have one or more of the following conditions; secondary diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and overweight The learning is progressive starting with fairly simple dishes like Spanish omelette and onto healthy cottage pie and spaghetti bolognaise – cooking in a healthy way. Monitoring and evaluation is carried out routinely to ensure that course is achieving its aims. This project is funded through service level agreement with NHS.

by Marion Farrell, Health Co-ordinator

In February this year, Groundwork Lincolnshire appointed a part time Garden Champion to work with the youthcentre and local residents of the Park Avenue area of Louth. Our new Garden Champion, David Higgs, was given the task of helping the youth to design and build a community garden at the rear of the youth centre, building on a number of small beds that had been built the previous year. The project, funded by People’s Health Trust, aims to create a thriving community garden where young people and local residents can learn about growing their own food and eating healthily, and, more importantly, work together to strengthen the community.

The garden has been designed by the youngsters to include wide access, raised planters, wildflower areas, fruit bushes and herb garden, to mention just a few. Groundwork Lincolnshire staff had originally planned to construct the raised beds and paths themselves, but the kids were keen to do the work themselves! Girls and boys alike worked tirelessly in March to construct the raised beds. After a small amount of coaching and a little supervision from David, many young people were confidently using saws and drills, and hefting heavy timbers into place. They did an amazing job and were reluctant to go home after a fantastic day. It was such a

success that we now have one of the youth wanting to go into construction.

The juicing and grow organic day was a great treat for the residents. Transition Town Louth helped teach about growing organically, giving every visitor a sunflower seed planted in a rolled up newspaper pot. David created a number of different combinations of juices for local residents to try, such as carrot and ginger (yes, we’re growing ginger in our community garden!) and beetroot and grape (no grapes yet though!). I have to say I loved the carrot, but most preferred the beetroot and grape. The day helped us to promote the garden; so much so that we have been overwhelmed with donations of plants, tools, seeds and pots!

The next phase of the garden was to get some seeds in, to which the response was overwhelming once again. We had lots of the young people down to help out during the half term holiday, filling all of the planters with seeds and young plants. We’ve tried to make things a little more interesting by growing unusual vegetables such as ginger, orange beetroot, spinach and kohl rabi. Everything has been growing well so over the last few weeks we’ve been giving produce away to the local community as well as getting the youth to try some of the produce from the garden. I must say radishes and rocket were not everyone’s favourite, but strawberries and peas more than made up for that!

Last week we were invited to be part of the Louth in Bloom team which has made us all very proud of our achievements. Well done to everyone that has helped make it such a successful project. Please follow us on FB ‘The Louth Park Ave Community Garden Project’ and on twitter at LouthYCgarden, or drop in for a visit!

By Kathy Owen, Project Officer

Groundwork helps local people to get growing!Community Garden entered in Bloom Competition

@LouthYCgarden

facebook.com/thelouthparkavecommunitygardenproject

Key Groundwork contacts...

How did you come to work for Groundwork and when did you start?I worked at Wilkinsons DC at Worksop and wanted to buy the flat I lived in so I needed more hours and saw the advertisement for this job, that was 10 years ago now and I’m still enjoying it.

What does your job involve?I clean the offices and help out with other central services jobs. I am on the Staff Development Group and help arrange social events for staff.

What is your favourite part of the job?My favourite part of the job is the people that I work with.

What do you hope to do in the future?Eventually when my children get older I would like to qualify as a barber and hopefully open a shop.

What do you like to do outside of work?I like swimming, walking and spending time as a family.

I also support two cancer charities. I do the Macmillan coffee morning with Tracy Shooter, raising £370 last year. I did the swimathon for Marie Curie which meant swimming 2.5k within 3 hours but I completed it in 64 minutes, I raised £290 doing that.

I thoroughly enjoy working for Groundwork and the staff here are really great hence the fact that I’m still here after 10 years!

Groundwork staff spotlight: Stephanie Brown, Cleaner

Head office:96 Creswell RoadClowneChesterfieldDerbyshire S43 4NATel: 01246 570977Fax: 01246 813200

Bolsover Office:Unit 1 The Council Depot, Mill Lane, Off Oxcroft Lane, Bolsover, S44 6NPTel:01246 570977Fax: 01246 813200

E-mail: creswell@groundwork.org.uk

Websites: groundwork.org.uk/creswell crestra.co.uk crestrasolar.co.uk

Trevor WittsManaging Director GCAM/Crestra Ltd

Specific enquiries to:

Caralynn Gale Education, training and skills

Gary SmithConstruction, housing and landscape

Katy GregoryCommunity

@GwkCres

facebook.com/creswellashfieldmansfield

Follow us on: